Mowbray: "We're disappointed because we felt we should have won."

TONY Mowbray claimed it was a case of two points dropped as Albion let lowly Barnsley come from behind to snatch a share of the spoils in an entertaining clash at Oakwell.

Jason Koumas opened the scoring with his third strike in five games on the half-hour mark.

But the lead lasted just five minutes when Tykes winger Paul Hayes capitalised on sloppy defending to level.

The Baggies failed to cash in on a host of second-half chances to miss the opportunity of climbing up to seventh in the table and within five points of the top two.

Instead, Mowbray's men are ninth, heading a five-strong bracket of teams on 33 points thanks to their superior goal difference.

But Mowbray took heart from the fact his team had avoided a fifth successive defeat on the road. 

"We're disappointed because we felt we should have won," said Mowbray, whose side are three points shy of the play-off places.

"But we've got to take the positive that we didn't lose away again and finished the game very strongly.

"I thought particularly in the second half there was only one team that was going to win it.

"There were plenty of opportunities for us to score but it just didn't happen.

"But Barnsley deserve a lot of credit.

"They came out of the blocks quicker than us in the first half.

"We got our noses in front but we conceded a disappointing goal.

"However, with the chances we had in the second half we should have been leaving with three points."

Mowbray felt his troops were unfortunate not to be awarded an 84th-minute penalty by referee Tony Bates when Jason Koumas was tripped by Neil Austin.

The Staffordshire official blew for the foul but deemed the offence to be inches outside the 18-yard box - despite strong Albion appeals for a spot-kick.

"I've watched the incident a couple of times and I think it was a penalty," Mowbray added.

"It was right on the line and I think it was easier for the referee to give a free-kick rather than make the correct decision."

The South Yorkshire stalemate leaves Albion seven points behind the automatic promotion places.

And the Hawthorns boss has urged his side to find a new level of consistency ahead of Saturday's home clash with Midlands neighbours Coventry.

"It's a very, very tight league," he added.

"If we'd won we could have jumped to seventh.

"We need to find the consistency of winning football matches. Then the league position will look after itself.

"We're a little bit inconsistent at the moment and a lot of teams will probably tell you the same story.

"When we get the balance of the squad right, the talent is there.

"We just need to add one or two other ingredients for days like today."

ALBION AGONY...John Hartson and Kevin Phillips can't believe it as a second-half chance goes begging

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